Tony Durant

Sir Anthony Durant
Sir Anthony Durant
Vice-Chamberlain of the Household
	In office; 20 December 1988 – 25 July 1990
Prime Minister	Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by	Michael Neubert
Succeeded by	David Lightbown
Personal details
Born	9 January 1928
Died	18 February 2016 (aged 88)

Sir Robert Anthony Bevis Durant (9 January 1928 – 18 February 2016), also known as Tony Durant, was a British Conservative Party politician.

Political career[edit]

Durant stood unsuccessfully for Rother Valley in the 1970 general election; the seat was retained by Labour's Peter Hardy. In 1971 Durant supported Margaret Thatcher's decision to end free school milk on the grounds that many children did not like it.^[1]

He was the Member of Parliament for Reading North from 1974 to 1983. After Reading's constituencies underwent boundary changes, he was the Member of Parliament for Reading West from 1983 to 1997. During his time in the Commons, he acted as a Whip. Announced in the 1991 New Year Honours,^[2] he was knighted on 14 February 1991.^[3]

In 1994, he successfully campaigned for the lowering of the homosexual age of consent.^[1] He retired from politics at the 1997 UK general election.^[4]

^ ^a ^b "Sir Anthony Durant, Tory MP – obituary". Daily Telegraph. 24 February 2016. Retrieved 25 February 2016.
^ "No. 52382". The London Gazette (Supplement). 28 December 1990. p. 1.
^ "No. 52543". The London Gazette. 28 May 1991. p. 8208.
^ "Mr Anthony Durant". TheyWorkForYou.com. UK Citizens Online Democracy. Retrieved 22 February 2010.

Political offices
Preceded by Michael Neubert	Vice-Chamberlain of the Household 1988 – 1990	Succeeded by David Lightbown
Parliament of the United Kingdom
New constituency	Member for Reading North 1974–1983	Constituency abolished
New constituency	Member for Reading West 1983–1997	Succeeded by Martin Salter

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